


Plays Well with Others

by atimi (bertee)



Category: Supernatural RPF
Genre: F/M, M/M, Teambuilding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-02-23
Updated: 2010-02-23
Packaged: 2017-11-02 03:45:09
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,258
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/364610
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bertee/pseuds/atimi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Jared runs team-building workshops, Jensen loathes team-building workshops, and Misha is indifferent to team-building workshops but quite likes livestock.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Plays Well with Others

**Author's Note:**

  * For [deirdre_c](https://archiveofourown.org/users/deirdre_c/gifts).



> Written for deirdre_c for help_haiti.

In Jared's opinion, team-building workshops were a lot like sex.

They required preparation, precautions and occasionally embarrassing foreplay, and were based around people working together in harmony to create a mutually fulfilling outcome. Sometimes they were mind-blowingly enjoyable, sometimes they were fun and relaxed, and sometimes they didn't quite get to where Jared wanted them to go, but overall they usually provided some kind of positive result for the participants.

Following this analogy, Jared liked to think of himself as the Ron Jeremy of the team-building world; he nailed it like a pro every time.

Admittedly his job had its downsides. Workshop leaders ranked somewhere between airline stewardesses and children's television presenters on the list of most infuriatingly cheerful individuals in the world, but Jared was consoled by the fact that, unlike the real Ron Jeremy, team-building coaches weren't in danger of contracting STDs on the job (unless they were Chad, who seemed to thoroughly enjoy putting himself in that danger at any possible opportunity.)

Overall, Jared was fairly happy with his chosen career path, and as he strolled into the Center's large hall, he sized up the day's clients with a friendly smile.

There were five of them, all new hires to a department of some big accountancy firm in Dallas, and Jared had been told to help them bond and get to know each other before they began their first work project together. Small groups were always nicer and he glanced over them quickly, trying to work out how much of his current happiness and job satisfaction would be intact at the end of the day.

Only two of the five looked like they'd rather be eating their own feet than standing there and Jared beamed.

Today was looking promising.

 

+++

 

"Can I get a volunteer?"

Jared's cheerful question was met with disdainful silence from the group clustered around the seating area. The two women, a brunette and a redhead, studiously avoided his gaze; the young blond kid looked panicked at the very suggestion of volunteering; and Jared was pretty sure the hot older guy was actually asleep on Jared's revered Beanbag Chair of Honesty. The only one who seemed to acknowledge his presence was a dark-haired guy with a mildly terrifying stare and so Jared gestured for him to come up. "Thanks for volunteering, man."

Still staring, the guy wandered towards him and Jared noted the name 'Misha' on his pre-printed nametag before resting a hand on his shoulder and announcing to the group, "So we're going to start with a game. I-"

"What happened to the standard introductions?" Jared raised his eyebrows when the guy on the beanbag chair lifted his head up and said, bored, "Y'know, the whole thing where you tell us that 'teamwork leads to triumph' and that we should 'get to know each other so that we can get to know ourselves'." He rolled his eyes and mocked, "It's a classic."

Mentally striking those lines out of his usual script, Jared took great pleasure in saying, "Nope. I like to shake things up sometimes. We're going to get loosened up with a game first so if you could all get to your feet..."

He'd learned early on to phrase his instructions as suggestions, and he kept his smile in place as he waited for the rest of the group to get to their feet, peering closely enough to see that the beanbag defiler went by the name 'Jensen'. The blond kid was Jake, the brunette Genevieve, and the redhead Danneel, and Jared did his best to commit the names to memory as he addressed the room, "Okay, the coffee should've woken you up already so think of this as a quick ice-breaker to get you loosened up for all the terrible things I'm going to make you do today."

That got a smile out of the brunette and the kid - Genevieve and Jake, he reminded himself easily - and Jared turned to his volunteer, pulling him down into a crouching position as he said, "All right, this game has three stages. This is your chance to move up through the ranks of evolution to meet your full potential."

He stuck his elbows out and waddled as much as his crouch would allow.

Misha stared blankly at him. It was a little unnerving.

"You start off as a chicken," Jared explained, still mostly unfazed. "You go find another chicken in the group and you rock-paper-scissors with them." He smiled when his paper beat Misha's rock and rose up to his knees, raising his arms above his head. "Once you win, you get to evolve into a volcano."

He made a suitably volcano-ish noise, admirably assisted by some impromptu gurgling from Misha, and continued, "You repeat the process again, only this time if you lose, you have to regress back down to being a chicken. Heartbreaking, I know."

Misha squawked mournfully.

"But," he began with enthusiasm, "if you win, you get to evolve upwards again to the highest evolutionary point possible." He bounced up to his feet and stretched his arms out wide with a roar, "Dinosaur!"

Jensen gaped at him but Jared was pleased to see that Jake looked genuinely thrilled at the prospect.

"Great. If no-one got any questions, let's get started!"

He caught Jensen's muttered comment, "Were you high when they taught the theory of evolution?", but no-one raised an actual query and so he clapped in motivation.

"Get in touch with your inner chickens and start when you're ready!"

Jared had found that there was something incredibly refreshing about starting with ridiculous games. Everyone was on an equal footing and some inhibitions were usually shed before they got onto more personal matters. Leading by chickeny example, he was glad to see all five of them embrace the game eventually, albeit to different degrees.

Jake and Misha seemed to enjoy duking it out to become the first dinosaur of the group, which resulted in Jake celebrating by means of a pterodactyl-esque victory dance, and Genevieve appeared to have found her calling in life as a happy little volcano. He marked out Danneel and Jensen as being initially more reticent but when Danneel graduated up the evolutionary scale, she used her new-found dino status to mime eating the still chickenified Jensen with a supervillain-like cackle.

He'd had Jensen down as a dick from the earlier attitude (and from the possibility that he may have drooled in his sleep on Jared's precious, precious beanbag chair) but he found himself watching and smiling when Jensen rolled away from Danneel's flailing dino arms with a shout of helpless laughter. Jensen's eyes crinkled at the corners and his white tee rode up as she tickled along his ribs, and Jared swallowed hard, reminding himself that just because someone looked hot on occasion, it didn't make them any less of a douchebag.

Looking away from Jensen and mulling over this problem, Jared came to the disheartening conclusion that this dilemma was probably shared by anyone who'd ever dated Chad.

 

+++

 

The Human Knot exercise seemed to go well.

The group worked together to get their arms untangled from each other and Jared was glad that they appeared to be comfortable in close proximity to each other, even if Jake did seem a little flustered when he found himself pressed between Genevieve and Danneel.

After going over to offer advice to the group, Jared still wasn't quite sure how he ended up bent double with Misha pressed up behind him but he decided to count it as a win anyway.

 

+++

 

Jake rubbed the back of his neck, lips pursed in concentration, and Jared prompted gently, "You can say whatever you want, man. This is your chance to open up, to let all your colleagues get to know more about you as a person. You don't need to be afraid of judgment here."

Jake's eyes darted across the seating area to where Jensen was slouched on the couch, apparently giving off the air of someone who could and would judge him no matter where they were. However, Jared was faintly pleased to see that Danneel noticed Jake's apprehension too and smacked Jensen on the arm with the chiding comment, "Don't give him that face, jackass."

If the tickling hadn't been enough, that reinforced Jared's conclusion that the two of them had known each other longer than the two days they'd been working at the firm, and he made a mental note to find out if they were now or had ever been a couple.

Jensen raised his hands in self-defence but flashed a reassuring smile in Jake's direction. "Sorry, man. I promise, whatever you say can't be worse than some of the embarrassing crap I did when I was a kid."

"He's telling the truth," Danneel chimed in. "He wore a tiara for most of first grade."

Beside her, Genevieve let out a surprised laugh but covered it with a cough when Jensen flipped Danneel off. "Fuck you, Harris."

Trying to hide his own smile at the thought of mini-Jensen in a tiara, Jared stepped in as peacemaker. "Hey, you'll get your turn in a moment. Let's see if Jake's childhood memories can beat your tiara years."

Danneel sniggered and Jensen elbowed her in the side, but they both stayed quiet while Jake spoke, "I had this pet hamster when I was a kid. Actually, I had another hamster before that but my uncle sat on it, and so I was really protective of my second one. I used to take her everywhere with me in this little hamster basket that was filled with sawdust and hamster snacks - my mom had to literally pry her out of my hands every morning when I went to school." There was a nostalgic smile on his face and Jared was pleased to note that the rest of the group was smiling too as Jake cleared his throat and said, embarrassed, "So yeah, that's my childhood story. I was awkwardly attached to my pet hamster."

Jared nodded. "Thanks, Jak-"

"She was sandy-colored," he added sadly. "And chubby."

"That's-"

"Really chubby. Nearly spherical."

"I-"

"Her name was Betsy."

"That's great," Jared interrupted more forcefully, keeping his smile in place. "Thank you, Jake." Worried that the kid was going to launch into yet more information about his dear, departed hamster, he looked at Jensen with the suggestion, "Jensen? Do you wanna come take over in the honesty seat?"

Jensen raised an eyebrow. "Are you going to force me if I say no?"

Danneel gave him a chastising nudge but Jared shrugged; stubborn clients were nothing new. "Nope."

He held back a whoop of triumph when Jensen pulled himself to his feet with a sigh to switch places with Jake on Jared's beloved beanbag chair - it had been hard to find one just the right shade of purple - and Jared heard him say under his breath, "Might've been more fun that way."

Momentarily caught up in the possibility that a) Jensen intended for him to hear that and b) it counted as a come-on, he almost missed it when he dropped to a seat and did his part to contribute to the group bonding session. (Jared had found that relating childhood stories was an excellent method of letting his clients see each other as human beings rather than just colleagues. Also, some of the stories were surprisingly cute.)

"I'm guessing that since Danneel told you about first grade I need to say something different?" he asked, sounding less than thrilled.

"If you can," Jared said, trying to imagine what Jensen looked like as a kid (and deciding that he probably fell into the 'surprisingly cute' category too.)

Scrubbing a hand across his eyes, Jensen grimaced as he admitted, "I used to do modeling when I was a little kid."

"That explains the tiara," Danneel murmured and Jared shot her a chiding look as Jensen's cheeks flushed pink in embarrassment.

"How old were you?" Jared prompted, half-encouraging and half-curious.

With a flicker of a glare in Danneel's direction, Jensen toyed with one of the bracelets around his wrist while he answered good-naturedly, "Six months maybe when it started? I don't remember much - I stopped when I was old enough to go to school - but my mom's shown me pictures."

A smile pulled at his lips and he settled back in the chair, gradually relaxing. (Jared totally knew what he was doing by using the beanbag for truth time instead of the couch.) "I don't think there was much skill involved. I mean, from the pictures I saw, it looks like they just plopped me down in whatever crib or playpen they wanted to advertise and let me lay there and flail around for a while." He pursed his lips ruefully. "The Halloween costumes were pretty bad though."

"Halloween costumes?" Jared asked before he could stop himself. He knew he should be moving on to the mandatory mid-morning snack break but the opening was too good to pass up. "What kind?"

Jensen met his eyes and smirked. "Well, my personal favorite was the unicorn."

There were chuckles from the gathered group and Jensen's smirk became a real smile as he used the break to vacate the truth seat and shift back to the couch with the threat, "None of that leaves this room, guys. If Jeff starts cracking unicorn jokes next week, I'll hunt you down."

Given that Jared (and presumably Jensen's colleagues as well) were now picturing him dressed up in a unicorn costume, the threat didn't really have the desired impact.

On the other hand, Jared's announcement that it was time for a coffee break was received with genuine enthusiasm.

 

+++

 

When faced with a choice of either possible hypothermia or definite candy deprivation, Jared was disturbed by how often he chose the latter.

The wind was sharp and icy as it swept down the side of the building, and Jared flexed his cold fingers as he leaned against the railing of the stairs and tried to open the wrapper of the Twix bar he'd been craving since breakfast. He was getting close to success but just as the wrapper tore open to reveal the delicious, chocolatey prize, the door to the Center swung open behind him.

Jared made a brief attempt at hiding his secret rations but knew he'd been unsuccessful when Jensen stopped in his tracks and looked at him skeptically. "You're on a candy break?"

"No," Jared lied, flashing a smile full of false confidence, "No, of course not. I mean, just because we feed you guys apples and granola bars doesn't mean I'd hide outside to eat candy and avoid sharing. That would be pathetic."

"Uh-huh." Smirking, Jensen moved to lean against the railings on the opposite side of the stairs and shook a cigarette out of the packet in his hand. "So, I take it you're hiding outside to eat candy and avoid sharing?"

"Maybe just a little," Jared said sheepishly and held out the Twix. "You want some?"

The offer was half-hearted at best and he was secretly relieved when Jensen shook his head. "I'll pass. You mind if I smoke?"

Seeing as how he now had a whole candy bar to himself, Jared wasn't about to begrudge him a smoke. "Go for it."

The moment of silence that followed was only punctuated by the snick of Jensen's lighter and the crinkle of the Twix wrapper as they both indulged in their chosen oral fixation. (Or digestary fixation. Jared wasn't sure whether inhaling candy counted as oral.)

"Y'know, I was kinda expecting you to try to talk me out of this," Jensen said suddenly and Jared's head snapped up, cheeks full of food.

"Muh?"

"Smoking," Jensen clarified, holding up the cigarette between his fingers before taking another drag. "I figured you'd tell me I was damaging the team morale by risking cancer or some shit like that."

"Hey, what you do on your own time is none of my business." He frowned and corrected, "Well, not unless you decide you want me to be your life coach or something." He grinned. "I can judge you in the privacy of your own home for twenty bucks an hour?"

Jensen chuckled, exhaling smoke into the cool air. "I'll pass, thanks."

"You're missing out," he teased. "I'd be awesome at one-on-one judging."

"Wow, remind me never to have sex with you. That's kind of intimidating, dude."

He put his cigarette to his lips again and Jared swallowed back the urge to connect sex and Jensen's lips in some kind of inappropriate yet highly predictable context.

Surprised by the reduction in assholish tendencies now that Jensen had his nicotine fix, he ventured the question, "Is that down to stress or habit?"

Jensen's brows creased for a second but smoothed out when his gaze dropped to the packet of smokes in his hand. "Habit." His lips twitched up in a smile and he admitted, "And stress maybe."

"You know stressing people out is like the opposite of what I'm trying to do today, right? Your boss didn't hand me a memo saying, "Drive all my staff to nervous breakdowns by 4pm"."

The complaint was good-natured and he was relieved when Jensen didn't sound offended as he replied, "I know. I just- I don't like this therapy shit, I guess."

"Don't think of it as therapy. I'm not a shrink and I'm definitely not going to go delving into any childhood trauma." He shrugged. "Unless you need someone to talk to about the Halloween costumes, in which case I'm all ears. That sounded adorable."

"Hey," Jensen protested playfully. "What happened to professionalism?"

"I'm on break," Jared pointed out. "And you were dressed up like a unicorn. A unicorn."

Shaking his head, Jensen sighed in feigned exasperation and Jared reassured again, "Honestly, it's not meant to be like therapy. This is just you guys getting to know each other while I stand there and help you along where I can."

"I know." Jared hesitated at the tiredness in his voice and wasn't as jubilant as he'd expected to be when Jensen acknowledged, "Look, I know you're just doing your job in there and I don't wanna give you shit for it."

With an impressive effort, Jared resisted the urge to ask outright why he'd been such a dick earlier if that was his view on things, but he managed to scale it down to the vague question, "You got problems with therapists or something?"

Jensen took another drag on the cigarette before flicking the ash down onto the ground. "Something like that." He dropped his gaze and volunteered the information, "My ex was a motivational speaker."

He said it like he was divulging a grave and serious tragedy, and Jared did his best to turn his laugh into a convincing hiccup.

From the expression on Jensen's face, he wasn't buying it and he settled for an apology instead. "Sorry, man." Jensen seemed appeased and he took another bite of candy before he asked, "What was wrong with that? I mean, I'm in a similar line of work and I haven't had any complaints in my personal life." Feeling like he was lying by omission, he admitted, "Okay, so I'm single right now but all my ex-boyfriends can support the fact that I'm fully capable of having a healthy relationship without bringing my work home with me."

He saw Jensen's eyes widen slightly at the mention of his previous boyfriends but any concerns he had about Jensen turning out to be a homophobic douche as well as a grumpy bastard were quickly proved unfounded when he said with a sigh, "I guess I should've met you before I broke up with Alex. You could've given him some pointers."

The emphasis on the pronoun was faint but definitely there and Jared tried to hold back a smile at the knowledge that Jensen was at least bi.

"He loved his psychobabble," Jensen continued, bitter but not angry. "You know when you have a shitty day at work and just want to come home, have a beer, and watch whatever crap is on TV?" If he'd added in 'jerking off', that would've described Jared's normal evening routine and so he nodded. "Well, he always wanted to talk everything out. He wasn't happy unless he could go through every second of my day to find out what had happened and how to make it better next time."

"Sounds like an asshole," Jared said with feeling.

"Pretty much." Jensen blew out some more smoke and he watched it disappear into the air. "I broke it off when he started quoting motivational posters during sex."

There was no disguising his laugh that time, and Jensen gave a self-deprecating smirk. "I have awesome taste in men."

Calming enough to get his breathing back under control, Jared asked, "So I'm guessing that's why you weren't exactly enthusiastic about being here today?"

"Could you tell?" Jensen returned sarcastically before grinding his cigarette out against the railing and tossing the butt into the disposal can by the door. Jared watched with a confused frown as he pulled out a stick of gum and started chewing, and he explained, "Danneel hates the smell."

Grateful for an opening, he asked casually, "Oh, are you and her...?"

Jensen laughed. "No way. We've been friends since we were in diapers; that'd just be awkward. Plus, y'know, there's the whole gay thing."

"You or her?"

"Me," he clarified before chuckling again. "No, Dan's definitely into guys. I was thinking about telling Jake to watch out but I don't think he'd listen to me."

"Hey," he protested, trying to sound hurt, "she's picking Jake over me?"

"I thought you were gay?"

"Well, yeah," he admitted. "But I have manly pride at stake here, dude."

Jensen smiled again, getting closer to the happy and relaxed expression he'd seen him wear with Danneel earlier. "Sorry to disappoint. If it helps, she was pushing for me to ask you out - she wants something nice to look at when she hangs out with me."

Jared wasn't sure which part of that sentence he was supposed to process first: the fact that Danneel thought he looked nice, the fact that Danneel thought he looked nicer than Jensen did, or the fact that Jensen had just broached the possibility of them going out. In the end, he opted for righting the most heinous wrong and countered with passion, "How can she think you're not nice to look at?"

Jensen's lips parted in surprise. Cringing at what he'd just said, Jared stammered, "I, uh- I just meant you're a good-looking guy. That's all."

He was pretty sure Jensen was struggling not to laugh at him as he replied, "Um, thank you?" Standing upright, he shrugged and said, "Anyway, I told her you'd shoot me down if I tried to ask you out, what with me disrespecting your career choice and all."

"That was before I knew about your douchebag ex," Jared said hurriedly, uncertain where Jensen was going with this but very much wanting to be on board. He was surprised to realize he was telling the truth when he added, "My opinion of you went up, like, five points in the last ten minutes."

"So I'm now on, what, minus 15 instead of minus 20?" Jensen grinned, pulling the door open and backing inside. "Guess I'll just have to improve some more if I wanna ask you out."

He disappeared back into the building, leaving Jared holding a half-eaten Twix and feeling thoroughly confused.

 

+++

 

If Jared happened to spend the rest of the day's session watching Jensen like a hawk, he was just being thorough.

He had evaluation forms to fill in for each participant which would then be sent to their boss as feedback, and so careful observation was a vital part of his job and in no way indicated that he was being overly stalkerish where Jensen was concerned.

It turned out that team-building workshops were surprisingly revealing, and Jared started to wonder if he could put all prospective boyfriends through this kind of test.

As a result of the long teamwork puzzle he set them after break was over, he learned that Jensen was a pretty good team-leader - cool, collected and controlled - but that he didn't deal well with interruptions; if looks could kill, Misha would've been circling the drain after suggesting that the solution might involve a combination of livestock and yogurt.

At lunch he learned that Jensen liked BLTs but hated tuna. Obviously Jared recorded this information with due care and diligence.

Over the course of the afternoon he learned that Jensen preferred golf over jogging, was inordinately proud of his manly ability to ninja-chop spiders, could do an eerily accurate impression of Danneel, was good at ball games but got easily distracted, and that he actually fared better in team-building workshops than his earlier douchebaggery had led Jared to believe.

(After a challenge that involved working as team to reach up to a square on the ceiling, he'd also learned that Jensen and Danneel had both been on the cheer squad in high school and could still remember the lifts, but he had promised to keep his mouth shut about this fact when Jensen had threatened to do something unpleasantly creative to his balls if he told anyone.)

By the time 4pm rolled around, it felt like he'd found out at least four dates' worth of information from Jensen, along with some things he doubted Jensen would ever tell his boyfriends if he could avoid it.

Hopeful that the day would end on a high note and that Jensen would follow through on his comment about asking him out, Jared settled himself on the Beanbag Chair of Truth and surveyed the tired but content group lounging in the rest of the seating area.

"You all did an awesome job today, guys," he said, starting his usual end-of-the-day spiel but actually meaning it this time. "Really awesome. I'll be filling in evaluations to send to your boss but don't worry, they're all going to be super positive. We'll do one more quick exercise before I let you guys go, but does anyone have any questions or concerns they want to raise before we do?"

Misha's hand went up and Jared looked over at him as he asked, more challenging than curious, "What's the plastic thing on the end of shoelaces called?"

"You mean an aglet?"

Misha nodded serenely and bowed his head. "Well played, Sir."

Jared opened his mouth but then decided not to question it any further. (He'd learned a lot about Misha over the course of the day too.) Changing the subject, he said, "Okay, if no-one's got any more questions, what I'd like to do is go around the group and have everyone say one thing that they learned from the session today. Anything at all." He gestured to Genevieve with an open smile. "Do you wanna kick us off?"

Genevieve crinkled her nose in contemplation before she ventured, "I learned that I kinda like these guys?"

Jared nodded. "Good! That's great. Misha?"

"I learned that I should defer to other people's judgment in certain circumstances," he said before tilting his head and fixing Jared with a stare. "Unless it involves livestock or pimping someone's ride, in which case I am the utmost authority."

Danneel rolled her eyes and spoke up next, "I learned that I missed out on the unicorn years of Jensen's life, which sucks, but I also learned that I'm probably going to like this job."

The last statement was followed by a glance at Jake who said with a tiny smile, "I learned that I like meeting new people."

After finding Danneel and Jake making out in a supply closet during afternoon break, Jared wasn't too surprised that their journey of self-discovery had ended with getting into each other's pants.

However, Jensen was still an unknown quantity in all this and Jared tried not to seem too eager when he prompted, "Jensen?"

Jensen's fingers tapped out an idle rhythm on the arm of the couch and he held Jared's gaze as he answered honestly, "I learned that this moral-building, team-working stuff isn't that bad. In moderation," he qualified with a flash of a smile. "How about you, Jared? What have you learned today?"

There was a challenge in his voice and Jared replied in kind, "Well, I was going to go with the unicorn answer but Danneel beat me to it. I guess I learned that, even after years of doing this, my first impressions aren't always dead-on."

Misha 'aww'ed unrepentantly.

"That was cute," Jensen mocked. "Do we hug now or-"

"You're done," Jared promised. "Thanks for all your work today, guys. You have my permission to flee now."

He was impressed that most of them made it out of the door before actually vocalizing their whoops of triumph.

Lounging back in his beanbag chair, he watched Danneel lean in to whisper something into Jake's ear as they walked out. From the high-pitched noise Jake made in response, he was fairly certain it was something dirty.

The slam of the door closing behind them was familiar and final, and Jared looked from the exit to where Jensen was standing by the wall and pulling his leather jacket on over his t-shirt and jeans.

"So..."

His voice sounded loud in the silence of the hall and he did his best to keep a composed facade in place when Jensen raised an eyebrow and came to lean against the wall next to him. He was the Ron Jeremy of the team-building world, dammit. He did not get intimidated by hot guys in hot clothes loitering next to him in an impossibly hot manner.

"Were you planning on finishing that sentence?" Jensen asked. "I'm not that great at mind-reading."

"Just wondering if you still hate this therapy shit," he replied, shooting for nonchalant but coming closer to hopeful. "I was kinda hoping I'd get you to see the light."

"Yep, you're the therapy Messiah."

Thinking that the Messiah was a few steps up from Ron Jeremy, Jared opted to ignore the sarcasm and beamed. "Always happy to help." His smile became slightly more confident as he informed him, "Just so you know, you've gone up about another thirty points since this morning."

"Oh, really? Wow, all the way up to fifteen. I feel so special."

He held a hand to his heart and faked an emotional sniffle as Jared laughed. "Hey, just letting you know you're in my good books again. Y'know, in case you need to ask me something."

"You're amazingly subtle," Jensen deadpanned. "I'm in awe."

He rolled his eyes and just as Jared was starting to worry that he'd read the whole situation wrong and Jensen had no interest in him and that he was going to go to prison for sexual harassment and die, single and alone and with a cellmate named Keith, Jensen asked with effortless calm, "You wanna go for dinner with me sometime?"

Lost in his thoughts of fending off Keith's amorous yet terrifying advances, Jared did a double-take. "What- Did you just ask me out?"

"You had a five-hour warning," Jensen pointed out. "How is this coming as a surprise?"

"Right." Suddenly feeling awkward, Jared ran a hand through his hair and offered, "Uh, yes? Yes to dinner. Dinner would be awesome. Saturday?"

"It's a date," Jensen agreed, pulling a business card out of his wallet and handing it over with a smoothness Jared could only aspire to. "Call me when you decide where you wanna go." His polished exterior flickered and faded as he pulled his keys out of his pocket, complete with fuzzy orange key-ring, and grinned at him, happy and relaxed. "Guess I'll see you on Saturday."

"Definitely." Jared found himself grinning back, unable to force his smile into something that didn't look like an ecstatic toddler as he watched Jensen head towards the door. "Good luck with work! Remember the teamwork tips!"

The door closed on the sound of Jensen's laugh and Jared slumped back into the chair, somewhat dazed but already planning their first date.

 

+++

 

As fate would have it, their first date turned out to be twenty minutes later.

Unfortunately, this meant that Jared was woefully underprepared for any date-like interaction when he finished up with putting the equipment away into boxes and turned around to see Jensen standing by the door with red cheeks, wet hair, and approximately half the smoothness he'd had earlier.

Apparently this was still more smoothness than Jared possessed since he barely avoided stepping on a stray tennis ball as he approached with a frown. "Jensen? You okay, man?"

Jensen shook his head but the gesture was more of an attempt to dry his hair off than to answer in the negative.

"I'm okay," he reassured. "I look like I just lost a fight with Aquaman but I'm good." Before Jared could ask if Aquaman was really responsible, he said, "My car battery died. I guess I forgot to turn the inside light off after looking for my keys this morning." He wiped away the drops of water that were trickling down his face and added, "Oh, and it's raining. Because God hates me."

"It's karma," Jared teased, failing to hide his delight at having Jensen all to himself for a little longer. Even if he didn't know what to do with him besides stare in appreciation. "It's Mother Nature's way of saying to be nicer to the guys who run team-building workshops."

"I'll bear that in mind, Yoda." Grimacing, he shrugged his wet jacket off and asked hopefully, "Am I good to wait in here until triple-A shows up? Because Saturday's gonna suck if I die of hypothermia halfway through our date."

"You're trying to guilt me into letting you stay? Classy."

Jensen flipped him off and Jared grinned, waving his hand towards the couch and giving permission, "Go huddle near the space heater or something. I don't need to close up for another couple of hours."

Sighing in relief, Jensen was sacked out on the beanbag chair before Jared had even bent down to retrieve the tennis ball.

"You're awesome," he groaned, holding his hands up to the space heater and wiggling his fingers in an attempt to warm them. Jared couldn't stop his eyes from dropping to the wide V of his thighs as he sprawled out in the chair, the denim of his jeans dark with rainwater, and he turned away quickly to focus on putting the stray tennis ball back with its brethren.

When he looked back, the situation had only worsened, and he closed his eyes and thought of Chad when Jensen let out a moan of pleasure and shifted happily on the chair.

"Just out of interest," he asked as he crossed the room, "did you ever get dressed up as a puppy during your modeling years? Because right now you look like my dogs after they've been out in the rain."

"Did you seriously just compare me to your dogs? Ouch."

Standing over him, Jared chuckled. "Sorry."

"I actually did get dressed up as a dog," Jensen admitted with a healthy amount of embarrassment. "There was this little suit with ears and paws. My grandparents still have a picture of it on their coffee table and oh God, why am I telling you this?"

Since Jensen had already agreed to go out with him, Jared figured he was allowed to snigger. "I still think it's kinda sweet."

Jensen's lips quirked up and he teased, "You didn't want to go out with me just because of my humiliating childhood, did you? I can't decide whether that would count as a pity-fuck or some creepy fetish for novelty onesies."

"None of the above," Jared promised. "I mostly wanted to go out with you because you're hot. And maybe sixty percent less dickish than I first thought you were."

"I'm flattered," he said, laying on the sarcasm suitably thick before looking up at him through his lashes and letting his arms fall back against the beanbag. "You wanna help me pass the time before triple-A gets here? Because I've been watching you walk around in those goddamn jeans all day and if you don't get out of them soon, I'm gonna have to get up and pull them off you."

Jared's eyes widened. "You- I- What?"

"I'm kidding," Jensen said, quashing Jared's short-lived fear that he was dating someone with jeans-related aggression issues. "Well, kidding about the getting-up part at least. Your ass does look awesome but I'm not about to do a Danneel."

"Then what-"

"A kiss would be good to start with," he suggested, resting his head back against the squishy chair and offering him a lazy smile. "Y'know, if you're up for that."

Jared wasn't entirely sure how his intended answer of "Yes" came out as him all but leaping onto Jensen with a mumbled response of "Fuck, yeah" but from the way Jensen groaned in pleasure and writhed underneath him, he guessed it was an acceptable outcome.

Jensen's skin was still damp under his hands, his right cheek warmer than his left from where the space heater had done its work, but his lips were soft and slick and parted easily as Jared coaxed his head back to just the right angle for him to slip his tongue inside. He felt Jensen shiver against him, his hands grabbing at his t-shirt to pull him in closer and his legs spreading wider to allow Jared to lie down against him.

The beanbag shifted as he moved to kneel up on it and Jared's kiss went wide for a second before Jensen's fingers slid into his hair to pull him back down. He was hard in his jeans - he had been since he'd seen Jensen standing by the door, looking wet, mussed, and kissable - but as he tried to disguise this fact, Jensen pushed his hips up against him and he realized he wasn't alone in this predicament.

Lifting himself up and away from the kiss (which was surprisingly difficult on a beanbag chair), he sucked in a breath and did his best to look at Jensen's eyes rather than his kissed-out lips as he stammered, "Wait- We shouldn't-"

"We should," Jensen said firmly, all his cocky confidence back in his voice. "We really should."

He leaned up to kiss him but let out a muffled yelp when Jared panicked and pushed his face into the beanbag. "Mmph!"

"Sorry," Jared apologized, letting go quickly. "I just don't think we should do this here, y'know?"

"Could anyone see us?"

"Well, no, but-"

"But nothing." He grinned, playful and mischievous. "This is the Beanbag Chair of Truth, right?"

Jared nodded.

"Then believe me when I say I really wanna do this here."

Jared gulped and looked down to see Jensen's hand trailing down his chest and popping the button of his jeans open. He'd eased his cock out of his boxers before Jared could even protest that the Beanbag Chair of Truth shouldn't really be used to disclose random sexual confessions, but he gasped against his cheek when Jensen's fingers curled into a loose fist and moved up the length of his dick, intent on exploration rather than stimulation. "Holy shit-"

Jensen chuckled, rolling his hips as he murmured, "Ditto."

He whimpered when Jensen's thumb moved over the tip of his cock, smearing the slick pre-come over the head and over his fingertips before sliding his fist down again with just enough pressure to make the touch feel cool and warm at the same time. His hips snapped forward, just too high for his dick to rub against the front of Jensen's jeans but instead he felt it brush against the fabric of his tee and the smooth skin of his stomach where his t-shirt had ridden up.

Jensen wriggled beneath him and it took Jared a moment to realize that he'd moved one of his legs in between his own. It took him a further moment to wonder why he'd done it but when Jensen brought his knees closer together and ground down against Jared's thigh, everything fell into place.

He was smiling when he leaned down to kiss him, pressing further into the give of the chair as Jensen bit down on his lower lip with a needy whine and moved helplessly against his thigh. Every buck of his hips sent more stimulation straight to Jared's cock and Jared returned the favor with a punishing kiss, deep and demanding, as he rocked his own hips against the softness of Jensen's clothes and the firmness of his body. Jensen clutched at his back and tee, his hands alternating between clinging tight and flattening out as sensations overwhelmed him, and Jared dropped his mouth to kiss along his jaw and to flick his tongue at the sensitive spot under his ear.

Jensen let out a burst of laughter at that, which soon morphed into a desperate moan as he squirmed against the weight of Jared's body. Jared could still feel him against his thigh, moving fast and mindlessly, and he bit down on Jensen's shoulder, tongue and teeth teasing the ridge of his collarbone until Jensen gasped louder, words barely making it out of his mouth as his movements stuttered against Jared's thigh, "Oh, God, there-"

His breath hitched and his body tensed and Jared knew the moment he came from the final choked cry of "Fuck-"

Glancing up to see Jensen's head fall back as he rode out the high, Jared propped himself on one elbow and brought his other hand to his dick, adding the final hit of necessary pressure to get him there a few seconds after Jensen, come landing on skin and cotton and smudging across his knuckles as he managed a final few strokes to his oversensitive dick.

Spent, he at least had the presence of mind to drop down beside Jensen rather than on top of him, and he let the chair swallow him up as he waited for the world to come back into focus.

He heard Jensen's breathing even out and match it with his own, letting cooler air skim over his bare arms and hips as his brain fumbled for something to say to the client he'd just had highly dubious sexual relations with.

Fortunately, Jensen solved his dilemma for him by saying, stunned, "Please tell me you don't do this with all your clients."

"Just the ones who act like dicks," Jared murmured back before turning his head to look at him. "There's nothing like making a guy come in his pants to even the score."

"Asshole," Jensen muttered half-heartedly but he was smiling when he met Jared's eyes. "Pick you up at 8 on Saturday?"

Looking back up at the ceiling (and wondering how a Fred Flintstone sticker made it up there), Jared nodded happily. "That works."

Jensen made a noise of contentment and Jared counted three breaths before the silence was broken again.

"I think you just got spunk on your Truth Chair."

Peering down between the two of them, Jared saw that there was indeed a fat glob of spunk on his otherwise resplendent Beanbag Chair of Truth, and decided that karma had really crappy aim when it came to doling out punishments.

 

+++

 

**One week later**

 

"I think this is the first time I've ever seen you do actual work," Jensen said, stretching out happily in the sheets. "My mind is blown."

"Hey, unlike someone's ex, I don't bring my work home with me. I work where you can't see me," Jared returned, propping the papers up against his bent legs and pointedly not looking at the naked man lounging under the sheets next to him. "Well, unless it's really urgent."

"And those are really urgent?"

"Really really," he said with a sigh. "They're the evaluation forms from the session I did with your group last week. I was going to write them up after you all left but then things happened and I got distracted."

"And got off," Jensen filled in, only sounding a tiny bit smug.

"Exactly. You are not helping my rate of productivity, and I don't need your boss calling up my boss to see why I've been so inefficient lately."

"My boss probably doesn't care," Jensen pointed out, rolling onto his stomach and propping himself up on his elbows. "You gave him a fully-functioning team; he's not gonna give a shit about report cards."

Choosing to ignore the latter half of that sentence, he asked, interested, "Work's going okay? You guys are doing all right?"

"Peachy," he confirmed. "Danneel and Jake are actually still together which, I gotta say, I did not see coming. Genevieve was the only one to put money on them lasting longer than a week and so she's up twenty bucks and some shoe magazines."

"Shoe magazines?"

"Misha doesn't bet with money. He bets with magazines. I won three about fly-fishing when I got more balls of paper in the trash can than he did." He frowned and looked up at him. "Don't put that on my evaluation."

"Too late," Jared lied before snorting at the wide-eyed look on Jensen's face. "Psych."

"Fucker," he groused, shuffling up the bed to peer at the papers on Jared's lap. "What've you been saying about me?"

"Hey, hey, hey." He pushed him away, holding Jensen's evaluation in a protective hold. "This is supposed to be confidential."

"I'm not asking to see anyone else's," Jensen complained, pouting a little as Jared adjusted position and continued to write. "I just wanna know what my boyfriend's telling my boss about me."

"I'm telling him that you give great head but that you have more mood-swings than a teenage girl if I wake you up before seven. And yes," he added, leaning down to kiss him on the lips, "you have stayed over enough nights for that to be a valid judgment."

Jensen's retort was smushed by the kiss and Jared was pleased to see a glazed look in his eyes when he pulled back.

"You aren't really writing that," he muttered. It was apparently hard to sulk and lick your lips since Jensen abandon the first goal quickly and reached over to slide his hand up Jared's thigh, still snuggled under the comforter. "If I have sex with you, will you tell me?"

"If I don't tell you, will you still have sex with me?" he asked knowingly and chuckled when Jensen scowled. "You totally can't stay away from me. It's straight-up animal magnetism, dude."

"Do they run a side class at team-building school? You learn how to be worryingly cheerful and how to get people to sleep with you?"

"Yep." Looking down at his forms, he pretended to write, and feigned reading aloud as he did so, "Ackles has trouble separating work from sex. I fear this may become a problem."

"You're a dick." Yawning, he moved closer and his hand dipped down between Jared's thighs as he suggested, "You could write something like, 'Ackles has awesome interpersonal skills' or 'Ackles is very good at working with others to reach an acceptable resolution'."

Jared raised his eyebrows and looked down at him in surprise. "That's actually pretty good."

"I'm a genius," he said, modest as always. "Now start writing."

He started to move position again and Jared's eyebrows lowered into a frown. "What're you doing?"

He caught the glint of Jensen's smile before he disappeared under the covers and gave a muffled reply, "Providing inspiration."

His shoulders nudged against Jared's thighs before he even knew what was going on but he let out a louder-than-intended cry when Jensen was suddenly right there, nuzzling against his inner thigh and pressing close enough to lap at his balls with gentle licks.

"Holy-"

In all honesty, Jared really didn't intend for his hips to buck up quite that hard and he cringed in pre-emptive apology when Jensen groaned and complained from between his legs, "I get that your dick's big, Jared. You don't need to slap me in the face with it."

"Sorry!" He wiggled down into a better position, keeping the paperwork on his knees, and said uncertainly, "Uh, keep going? Please?"

Jensen evidently heard him and he bit back a groan as the smooth heat of Jensen's tongue teased at his sac again. Staring down at the paperwork, he wrote out an answer as quickly as possible, just wanting it to be done so he could concentrate on exactly what Jensen was doing with his tongue to make that feel so good.

_Ackles has awesome interpersonal skills and is very good at working with others to reach an acceptable resolution. He applies himself diligently to the task at hand and is never afraid to take the initiative._

Jared gulped as Jensen tickled along his perineum with the soft pad of his finger, and he let out a choked yell when he hummed against his balls, sending vibrations along nerves Jared didn't even know existed.

Gasping aloud, he scrawled down his last sentence and tossed the paper onto the bedroom floor as he reached down to grip Jensen's hair. Jensen hummed again at the contact and when he parted his lips to press a hot, slippery kiss to his balls, Jared decided his hastily written evaluation was one-hundred percent accurate.

_Best teamwork session ever._


End file.
